Apple Eyes 10% Bump in iPhone Shipments From AI Rollout

Apple reportedly expects its new artificial intelligence (AI) services to boost demand for its iPhones.

The company expects to ship at least at least 90 million iPhone 16 devices in the second half of this year, which is about a 10% increase over the 81 million iPhone 15 units it shipped in the latter half of 2023, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (July 10), citing unnamed sources.

The firm anticipates that the Apple Intelligence features making their debut on the iPhone 16 will drive demand for its smartphones when that model goes on sale later this year, according to the report.

Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

The company’s shares gained as much as 1.8% and reached a record high after Bloomberg reported these figures, according to the report.

Apple’s shipments forecast is “a positive sign given anemic smartphone sales over the past two years,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Anurag Rana and Andrew Girard said in a note Wednesday, per the report.

Market intelligence provider International Data Corp. (IDC) said in May that while worldwide smartphone shipments are forecast to grow 4% year over year in 2024, Apple’s shipments are expected to grow 0.7%.

IDC attributed Apple’s softer growth to increasing competition in China.

“However, if Apple makes a strong move around its AI strategy for iPhones, demonstrating clear use cases, it could accelerate the growth for Apple and revamp demand for iPhones, especially in China,” Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team, said at the time.

Apple unveiled its new suite of AI features, Apple Intelligence, on June 10, saying it would revolutionize the iPhone, Mac and iPad experience while protecting users’ data.

“Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said when announcing the new offering. “Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s context to deliver truly helpful intelligence. And it can access that information in a completely private and secure way to help users do the things that matter most to them.”

The smartphone industry as a whole expects advancements in AI to bring a seismic shift, PYMNTS reported in May. The technology is expected to bring many advanced features to the devices and change how users interact with them.